Oakland musician Stephen Steinbrink has announced his first new album in five years, Disappearing Coin, out August 18 on Western Vinyl. Steinbrink’s last LP was 2018’s Utopia Teased. Along with the news, Steinbrink is sharing “Opalescent Ribbon,” a laid-back and harmonized lead single written in partnership with Paul Frunzi of Ever Ending Kicks. The track comes accompanied by self-directed video.

Here’s what Steinbrink has to say about “Opalescent Ribbon”:

In spring 2020, I somehow convinced my friend Nicholas Wilbur to let me hide in his studio, the massive Unknown in Anacortes, WA. I slept on the floor for six weeks, counted dust bunnies, and waited for songs. Nicholas encouraged me to use the studio during my weird residency and pulled out several API microphone preamps from the racks for me to use in a little recording nest I set up in the center of the massive live room. I followed the various musical threads that dropped in front of my face, collaging ideas into songs. “Opalescent Ribbon” was the result of a 50/50 collaboration between myself and Paul Frunzi of Ever Ending Kicks. Our method was to drink coffee at midnight and write together, overlaying melodies onto repetitive rhythms and improvised drones. It felt new and fun. I wrote the lyrics to verse one, and he wrote the second. I enjoyed finding meaning in the abstract images and cut-ups we invented. If I remember correctly, after tracking the song, we watched the classic George Miller 1998 psychedelic masterpiece Babe: Pig In The City.

Also recorded at Oakland’s Tiny Telephone, Disappearing Coin features fellow musicians Taylor Vick, Frunzi, Nick Levine of Jodi, and longtime co-arranger Andrew Dorsett.

“As I slowly began writing for myself again, I tried to imbue my new songs with this sense of playfulness and wonder I felt while exploring these other interests.” Steinbrink adds. “The album feels like an integration of all of my past musical selves zeroing in on the present. I felt free to explore new ways of writing, through different perspectives, experimenting with fictional songwriting, visual archetypal language, and total collaboration.”

Listen to and watch “Opalescent Ribbon” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Opalescent Ribbon”
02 “If There’s Love in Your Heart”
03 “Cruiser”
04 “Nowhere Real”
05 “Pony”
06 “Glitch Eternity”
07 “Step’s Disappearing Coin”
08 “Cruiser (Reprise)”
09 “Cool And Collected”
10 “Comedy”
11 “Who Cares”
12 “Poured Back In The Stream”
13 “Addicted To A Dream”
14 “Nowhere Real (Reprise)”
15 “It Is What I Want, But Not What I Need”

TOUR DATES:
11/10 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
11/17 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill w/ Briana Marela
11/18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Genghis Cohen

Disappearing Coin is out 8/18 on Western Vinyl.